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North Korea Uncovered (Google Earth)

Sunday, April 22nd, 2007

DOWNLOAD IT HERE (to your own Google Earth)

Using numerous maps, articles, and interviews I have mapped out North Korea by “industry” (or topic) on Google Earth.  This is the most authoritative map of North Korea that exists publicly today.

Agriculture, aviation, cultural, manufacturing, railroad, energy, politics, sports, military, religion, leisure, national parks…they are all here, and will captivate anyone interested in North Korea for hours.

Naturally, I cannot vouch for the authenticity of many locations since I have not seen or been to them, but great efforts have been made to check for authenticity. In many cases, I have posted sources, though not for all. This is a thorough compilation of lots of material, but I will leave it up to the reader to make up their own minds on the more “controversial” locations.  In time, I hope to expand this further by adding canal and road networks. 

I hope this post will launch a new interest in North Korea. There is still plenty more to learn, and I look forward to hearing about improvements that can be made.

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Posted in Agriculture, Coal, Communications, Dams/hydro, DPRK organizations, Education, Electricity, Energy, Football (soccer), Forestry, Gambling, Golf, Google Earth, Health care, Hoteling, Manufacturing, Mass games, Military, Mining/Minerals, Nuclear, Railways, Religion, Restaurants, Sports, Tourism, Transportation, Worker's Party | 5 Comments »

U.S. mulling people-to-people exchange programs with North Korea: envoy

Friday, April 20th, 2007

Yonhap
Lee Dong-min
4/20/2007

The United States is considering starting exchange programs with North Korea, potentially including government officials, to broaden bilateral relations and help open up one of the most closed societies in the world, a White House envoy said Thursday.

Jay Lefkowitz, appointed by the U.S. president to deal with North Korean human rights issues, said the exchanges could be between athletes, musicians, artists and even government officials.

“This is something we are thinking about,” Lefkowitz said at a session hosted by the Heritage Foundation.

He wasn’t sure whether North Korea would be receptive, the envoy said, “but exchange programs, I think, are ultimately a wonderful way to broaden relationships … they let real people interact with real people.”

It could be similar to the “ping pong diplomacy” initiated with China, he said, and the opportunity would be beneficial for both countries.

“It is highly likely that the people North Korea sends abroad will be chosen from the elites,” Lefkowitz said.  “Nonetheless, even the most pro-regime participant will undoubtedly have his assumptions jarred by seeing the outside world.”

U.S. relations with North Korea are heavily restricted by domestic laws. Pyongyang, denounced annually in human rights reports as one of the world’s most oppressive regimes, is also suspected of developing nuclear weapons and sponsoring terrorism.

The two countries held their first diplomatic normalization talks last month, a process begun when North Korea signed on to an agreement to eventually give up its nuclear weapons and programs.

Lefkowitz said human rights improvement in North Korea is a prerequisite to establishing formal relations.

“If the North Korean government ever wants to be seen as legitimate, it will have to make progress on human rights,” he said.

There is a glimmer of hope, the envoy said, quoting a Russian expert on North Korea who says a “quiet revolution” is under way in the communist nation and that the government there is gradually losing control over its people.

The phenomenon, Lefkowitz said, is very similar to what happened in the last days of the Soviet Union.

He criticized China for refusing to help North Korean refugees flowing into the country through their shared borders and said next year’s Beijing Olympics is a chance to highlight the situation.

“Does anyone seriously believe that a massive abuse (of) the refugee population will go unnoticed? I certainly hope not,” Lefkowitz said.

“This is an area where the international media can play a big role of exposing what’s going on.”

The envoy repeated his skepticism about the Kaesong industrial complex, an inter-Korean pilot economic project. Located just north of the border, the complex houses factories built with South Korean capital and run by North Korean labor.

Lefkowitz refuted argument that the project guarantees the same kind of success from China’s special economic zones.

In China, the companies operated under relatively free market conditions and accepted foreign investment and participation, he said.

For Kaesong, the “most troubling” is lack of overall transparency, he argued.

“This does not necessarily foretell liberalization,” he said. “Until there is transparency, other countries should not import goods made in Kaesong.”

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Posted in Civil society, USA | Comments Closed

North Korea Does Not Have a Sex Problem?

Thursday, April 19th, 2007

Daily NK
Yang Jung A
4/19/2007

North Korea does not have a sex problem = North Korea, until 1980s, was not open about sex. A conservative aspect remained in their consciousness and under the socialist setup that emphasized rules, the problem of sex was not an important topic in everyday life. But recently, with exposure to much information from the outside world, a freer atmosphere regarding the issue of sex has been forming. However, North Korean women cannot be free in the midst of sex-related violence.

Ahn Mi Ran said women who go around the provinces alone for trade become targets of men’s sex crimes as well.

-Interviewees

Kim Young Soon (23)—defected in 2003, withdrew from Pyongyang High-Tech University
Ahn Mi Ran (43) – defected in 2003, born in Hoiryeong, North Hamkyung, escaped organ sales
Che Kyung Ja (35)—defected in 1997, born in Hamheung, South Hamkyung, married Korean-Chinese husband
Lee Eun Hee (39)-defected in 2000, born in Shinuiju North Pyongan, worked as a “runner” (broker)
Kang Soon Nhuh (40) – defected in 2002, born in Hyesan Yangkang, escaped organ sales

”One woman I knew worked as a runner from Pyongyang to Hamheung. According to her, women who ride trains experience a lot of incidents. Trains stop often and become delayed, so women frequently stay on the trains until the middle of the night, but there are no electric lights. So men come up to women who are around 50 years old and grope their bodies. When this became chronic, women just accepted this as how things were. When she told her husband, he told her to stop immediately, but there was no way to live if she did not trade, so she still runs. Women who run have to prepare themselves for such incidents.”

Particularly, if these problems become publicly known, it impacts the women’s entrance to the Labor Party. Kang Soon Nyuh explained, “If women become admitted, they can become big leaders, so there are a lot of women who want to enter. If women stay at home, they get entangled with the Union of Democratic Women, which is exhausting. But they do not touch women who are admitted to the party for the most part.”

”But women, upon entrance, have to submit their bodies to the leaders. If women are admitted, it automatically means these women have undergone such incidences. After returning from the Army, they become automatically admitted. This is standard. It has become such a prevalent incidence, that anybody will acknowledge this.”

In North Korea, sex trade is prohibited in principle, but after the severe food shortage in mid-1990s, this practice has seriously spread, centering on stations in big cities. Prostitution can be the utmost survival method that women can select.

Lee Eun Hee said, “If you go to the Pyongyang station, old women will approach men and ask if they will not take up standby lodging. Standby lodging, in one word, means
homestay. Men, if they are interested, will point to a woman standing on the platform and inform, “this one for 10,000 won and that one for 25,000 won. Women are not gathered in one place, but stand scattered between people. The price is based on appearance and age, in that order. If the man selects a woman, they go together.”

She added, “Among these women, vagabonds are included. In the starvation period, there were news that female college students would go out to the streets to sell themselves.”

Additionally, secondary problems resulting from improper teaching of sex education is not insignificant. North Korean teenagers are hardly receiving what can be called, “sex education.” Female students are taught in applied subjects about women’s hygiene, health, and raising a baby, but male-female relationships are not taught.

Kim Young Soon heard a college friend’s petition one day, “Comrade, can you help me get rid of a baby?” In a North Korean college, if the pregnancy is revealed, the student is kicked out of school. But Ms. Kim did not know what to do because she had not yet received such an education.

“Chosun women have not received education even once since their birth. There are no contraceptives and they have not even heard of a condom. I went to the neighborhood clinic and gave the doctor the value of a cigarette and pleaded. Finally, I was referred to an obstetrician at the district’s hospital. But even there, you have to give money under the table to the doctor. Hospitals do not even give food, so we had to bring rice ourselves. After paying 30,000 won, my friend was able to safely undergo the surgery.”

“The doctor said many women receive such surgeries. But some women do not even have money and are ashamed, so they do not go the hospital but damage their bodies while using folk remedies. Chosun women do not have such an education, so they hear from their mothers to drink eggs diluted in vinegar or to fall from a precipice to abort the baby. The doctor said never to try such means, because of the damage to the body. But even at the hospital, you have to give adequate money to receive comfortable treatment.”

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“Discrimination Based on Money is Worse Than Gender Discrimination”

Thursday, April 19th, 2007

Daily NK
Yang Jung A
4/19/2007

Daily NK, through in-depth interviews with five female defectors residing in China, got a glimpse of the lives of North Korean women. These are women who defected as early as 10 years ago and as late as the end of last year.

From 1997 to 2006, a 10-year range, these women who crossed the Tumen River testified that “in Chosun (North Korea), women’s lives have been completely broken down.”

Despite the fact that women lead the significant economic role of overseeing over 90 percent of the family’s livelihood, they have to suffer unfair treatment in the family. But since year 2000, women’s lives have undergone many partial changes.

Interviewees

– Kim Young Soon (23)—defected in 2003, withdrew from Pyongyang High-Tech University
– Ahn Mi Ran (43) – defected in 2003, born in Hoiryeong, North Hamkyung, escaped organ sales
– Che Kyung Ja (35)—defected in 1997, born in Hamheung, South Hamkyung, married Korean-Chinese husband
– Lee Eun Hee (39)-defected in 2000, born in Shinuiju North Pyongan, worked as a “runner” (broker)
– Kang Soon Nhuh (40) – defected in 2002, born in Hyesan Yangkang, escaped organ sales

◆ Money decides the lives of North Korean women = The standard that classifies the quality of women’s lives in North Korea is of course money. Even though North Korea is a figurehead “socialist country,” the widening income gap between each citizen strips away such an appearance.

If the Party and the high-ranked military leaders who receive a generous provision from the North Korean administration or the up and coming wealthy people, who were able to increase their money through trade, belonged to the upper class, a majority of citizens who depend on provisions or small-scale jangmadang (market) sales are in a situation of having to be content with three meals.

Kim Young Soon, who was exposed to many friends with upper-class parents at Pyongyang High-Tech University, said, “There was a daughter of the Party’s high-ranked leader in our class who, before coming to our school, was isolated from regular people and did not know the reality of North Korea very well. She thought most people lived like her.”

The daily life of North Korea’s high-ranked, which Ms. Kim relayed, is entirely different from the reality we know. She inserted, “On one hand, I was angry, but amazed, too. In North Korea, the difference between standards of living is bigger than gender discrimination. I cried a lot during my college years.”

”That friend thought everything was according to what she knew, so she would say whatever she wanted to say without reservation. When she went home, she mixed honey, milk powder, and egg yolk to massage her face. She told us stories which were hard for me to understand, such as daily applying a face whitening cream which cost 6,000 won each.”

”Every Sunday, she would go to a private house with her mother and receive facial massage, a rubdown, and a straight perm. She said that she would eat strawberries in the middle of winter and keep ice cream bought from the foreign market in the refrigerator so she could eat it whenever she wanted. She also told us to eat pig feet to soften the skin. (Laughter) From umbrellas to boots to clothes, she used all foreign goods. She bragged that her mother bought a Korea-made mixer. Before, Japanese-made products were used a lot, but now, they use a lot of Korean-made goods, too.”

The standard of living of North Korean upper-class female students, which she relayed, was an extent even shocking to the reporter. “The children of the leaders even get double eye-lid surgery and nose jobs and braces for their teeth. They use all Korea-made make-up. They do not tell us where they got these goods, but I heard in passing that they purchase them illegally. If you use good make-up, your face definitely becomes prettier. Among these students, there was even the unwritten law that they not use products below a certain price.”

She said that upper-class students are not content with their current wealth and fervently hunt for a husband in order to participate in an even higher economic rank.

“Men who pursued them were sons of foreign exchange stores or university chancellors. They showed me the presents that these men gave, such as leather-bound books and dolls. I asked, “you must be so happy,” to which she replied, “I want to live with a man who is better-off than me.” I asked further, “is this not sufficient to marry him?” and she said, “at this level, I am bound to envy those who are wealthier. I came to college so that I can marry better with my diploma. I want to live abroad.”

Compared to that, school life for Ms. Kim, whose parents farmed in the countryside, were tear-filled. She told us, “My parents would send 40,000 won each time from the village, but after paying for books and school fees and meals, I would run out of money. College students cannot think about earning money, because they are restrained by a fixed schedule. However I ended up splitting the money that my parents sent, I could not help but spend it.”

”In college, it was most difficult because of socks. Female students had to wear skirts, but each pair of stocking cost 2,000 won. Even if there are holes, I could not conceive buying a new one, so I wore it stitched up or turned inside out. For shoes, I wore pitiful ones from China and even recycled that. I like ice-cream, but because expensive ice-cream is sweet and makes you want to eat it over and over, I would buy 50 won ones that had saccharine added to ice when I had a craving.”

Of these factors, the thing that was most unbearable for her was not ability or performance but the climate of North Korean colleges that one can only earn recognition with money and power. “When exam period came, I studied to death to earn a perfect score. But the daughter of a Party’s leader had a mediocre result on the test, but would receive a perfect score after offering a bribe worth a pack of cigarettes. I could not stand it,” she expressed with vexation.

On one hand, Lee Eun Hee, who said she visited Pyongyang many times to do business, explained, “Pyongyang does not just have well-to-do people. The wealthiness of the Party area where party leaders live is a well-known fact, but in the neighborhoods of Sunkyogu or Daesunggu which are made up of single-story houses, most people get by from what they make daily.”

Ms. Lee equivocated, “In one of the families I knew, the husband was not working while trying to find a job and the wife was in charge of the home. They could not even receive provisions, so they tried to sustain their livelihoods through jangmadang sales, but it was difficult to even earn 3000 won per day. They had one rice meal a day and the rest, noodles. In that neighborhood, everyone’s situation was about the same, so not even a single family had color TV. Our youngest daughter was in the 3rd grade in high school and always chanted words of hunger. Her father cooked the remainder of the dog meat that the next door neighbor left behind and when I saw them devouring that…”

Kim Young Soon, who went to help out at a farm in the Yellow Sea region during college, gave all her clothes upon seeing the miserable situation in the country. “They lived in dilapidated shacks eating corn soup. I closed my eyes seeing people live this way in a region that is famous for being the production center for rice. After farming, all provisions would run out after a month or two due to material costs and military rations. They could not even go to trade anywhere and had to live in starvation.”

Because it is such an extremely poor environment, women’s lives cannot even be talked about. “People in the countryside do not even know the word shampoo. When we washed our hair, they would ask us what it is. Because soap is expensive, they would pour lye into sardine oil to make their own soap. When you do laundry with that, your entire clothes smell like sardines. They wash their face with that kind of soap.”

Ms. Kim said regretfully, “On the other hand, friends who live well use shampoo-and- conditioner-in-one which is made in Japan. Nowadays, they say they usually use Korean shampoo. If they wash hair with that, the scent lasts long…” (continued)

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How Can I Desert Our Leader & Our Motherland?

Thursday, April 19th, 2007

Daily NK
Choi Myung Chul
4/19/2007

I defected at a young age and arrived in South Korea in 2004, where I was admitted into third of year of middle school. In North Korea, I had been attending school and was in second year high school.

At first, I found it difficult assimilating into a South Korean school. Social interests were different and the fact that 9 out of 10 South Korean children enjoyed going to an internet café and playing games was intriguing on its own. Though I find computer games challenging and fun today, back then it was hard enough trying to figure out a computer, let along mastering a game.

There are no opportunities to see computers in North Korea. That’s because no one owns a computer. Comparatively, North Korea is like South Korea in the 1970’s. I played outside with top spins, paper-flipping, slides and soccer. I also caught fish as our family lived in Hoiryeong nearby the Tumen River, though catching fish was not only a game but our means of survival.

At that time, the greatest obstacle to our play was hunger. When you run around and play, you need food to regain your energy. There were even times we had no strength to sit up and play. Rather we lay, slumped. During those times, we sat around day-dreaming. We would play truth or dare and pretend to smoke with cigarette butts we had secretly collected and talked nonsense while lamenting over our lives.

Satisfying hunger through the generosity of an affluent friend

We often had fights with kids from other schools. There was one incident where a child even got his head seriously hurt, but back then your friends were all you had. Even as we lay lifeless, I felt secure because of my friends.

Though I was starving, I even got to watch TV, that is during the short times our village was supplied energy. Though the majority of us were poor, one of my friends had a TV in his home, as his mother had done well at the markets. Even though only one station was broadcasting, the North Korea program, it was still very fun. I remember seeing one movie, “Order 027” which was about the People’s Army invading the Blue House (South Korea’s presidential building). The action wasn’t too bad, even interesting to a point.

Once in a blue moon, a friend would come into some money and then we would go to the markets to buy snacks. We bought bread made of corn powder and tofu rice. Even though the serving was small, my friend always shared his food with me.

Actually, all our friends did this. It was a time where we were all starving, yet we were willing to share our food, even half a corn cob.

Then one day, my mother left and I starving of hunger, left for China. On my way to Dalian in search for relatives, I was caught and forcefully repatriated back to North Korea. So I went looking for my best friend Hakjoo. Hakjoo and I had grown up together and had experienced so many things including severe hunger.

Offer to escape but offer denied

I informed Hakjoo of my plans and tried to persuade him to come. He replied, “Nevertheless, my homeland is here. If I died, I am going to die here. I cannot go with you.” We got into a huge argument and he said I had been brainwashed by capitalism.

Ever since we were little, we studied that Chosun (North Korea) was a socialist paradise and learned of Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Song’s revolutionary history. Even at that time, many of us were ignorant of the outside world. My friend’s loyalty to the great leader stood firm and he denied leaving our motherland.

By the time I had seen and heard of China, my devotion to Kim Jong Il had disappeared. I tried to convince Hakjoo that China was rich in food and much more abundant than North Korea but, failed to persuade him. I remember him saying, “Still. How can I desert our leader and our motherland?”

Hakjoo did not agree with my dreams but he still wished me health and safety. He also promised me that he would not report me to the authorities and said, “Don’t worry. But you must go in safety. Do not get caught and be safe.”

North Korea is a society where each person regulates one another. It is a society where trust is nonexistent. However, I trusted that friend and because I believed that he would not report me, I was able to safely defect the country.

As I left, I said to me friend, “I will return without fail… I’ll see you then.”

That was ’98. I found my way to my relatives home in Dlian, worked as a farmer in China for 3 years and then at a restaurant for 3 years.

At first, I planned to live in China. I had no intention of coming to Korea as I felt it would then be harder for me to return to North Korea. However, I could not continue to live hidden as an illegal immigrant and in the end, I followed the footsteps of another friend in 2004.

Whenever I face a hard time I think, ‘If I came with Hakjoo, it wouldn’t have been so hard,’ If we had defected together, the hardships in China and the loneliness would not have been so bad.

No matter how difficult the task, that friend always pulled through. However, he is not here now and so all the decisions have to be made by me. It’s tough because there is not one person I can fully trust and be dependent on.

But I am going to live well. Every day, I have just enough to scrape by and though it’s not easy, I am attending university. When I return to North Korea one day, there are many things for me to do. My dream is to construct a company there and rebuild a North Korea that has fallen to devastation.

And above all, I study because I made a promise to my friend. When I return to my hometown, my aim is to meet my friend standing tall and proud.

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Posted in 1990s Famine, Civil society, Computing/IT, Emigration, Television | Comments Closed

Pomhyanggi” Cosmetic Exhibition Opened to Public

Wednesday, April 18th, 2007

KCNA
4/18/2007

The “Pomhyanggi” Cosmetic Exhibition has been newly built in Moranbong District of Pyongyang.

It is a show of quality cosmetics produced in the Sinuiju Cosmetic Factory and a research center for developing new products and establishing scientific method of their application.

It operates a consultation room and gives such services as explanation, sale, medicinal sauna, massage and facial treatment. The consultation room diagnoses skins, health and constitutions of the customers and introduces relevant cosmetics to them at their request.

The explanation room explains the peculiarities and effectiveness of “Pomhyanggi” Cosmetics (3 pieces, 7 pieces, 8 pieces).

Kwon Mun Gap, senior official of the exhibition, said in an interview with KCNA that “Pomhyanggi” cosmetic research team has developed the quality cosmetics not by the chemical method but by the method of combining over 30 kinds of natural medicinal materials with Kaesong Koryo Insam.

“Pomhyanggi” cosmetics are the refined and developed ones of the famous “Nowana”, “Meari” and “Kumgangsan” cosmetics.

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North Korea Authorities, “Take Care of Kim Il Sung Birthday Presents to Citizens on Your Own.”

Monday, April 16th, 2007

Daily NK
Kim Young Jin
4/16/2007

The North Korean authorities ordered that the holiday gifts given to North Korean citizens for 4.15 Kim Il Sung’s birthday, Sun Day, be distributed by each provincial body.

The leader of a people’s unit Mr. Choi of a district in Hyesan, Yanggang said in a phone conversation with Daily NK on the 13th, “The order came from the center to supply liquor and sweets through the body.”

He said, “A ‘4.15 subdivision committee’ has been organized in each province and has been going down to the commercial offices and food factories to directly inspect production.” The committee is a team that exists for the people who were temporarily transferred from party and political organizations for the seasonal production of sweets for distributing to children on Kim Il Sung’s birthday

This order’s intention can be interpreted as North Korean authorities trying to raise the holiday atmosphere by sparking competition among the provinces to celebrate Day of the Sun as “the year of victory in Military First Ideology.”

”The manager who cannot even provide one bottle of alcohol is not entitled”

However, the central party provided the order without a realistic plan of action, leaving it in the hands of factory and enterprise offices.

Another well-informed source stated that, “The central party has sparked a competition amongst the provinces to see which municipality provides more.”

On the 80th birthday anniversary of Kim Il Sung in 1992, when the “Supply Diversification” competition was kindled, the news spread that Junchun Commercial Office in Jakang, to where Jung Chun Sil (a member of Supreme People’s Committee) belongs, supplied 13 kinds of socks, candles, matches, and alcohol, but most of the provinces stopped after passing out one bottle of drink.

The well-informed source also stated that more than one bottle of drink could not be distributed this time. Soju is an item which cannot be left out from the holiday provision. Each provincial organization was known to bluff. “Factory managers who cannot provide at least one bottle of drink should forfeit their positions.”

At a food factory producing drinks, 10 hours of electricity was provided and the factory entered production round the clock, but it still had difficulty due to the lack of electricity and raw materials.

Demand-driven supply is also insufficient. After supplying drinks produced at this factory to organizations of influence, coal and mine workers, and laborers who work in dangerous jobs, there is not enough for all citizens.

As a result, authorities are asking factory and enterprises offices themselves to provide the laborers. Most factories are ordering from individual home-brew traders.

Failure in “gift” production for children

In the midst of this, it has been known that units which have taken charge of production of gift-use sweets are in a state of panic.

A part of the provinces used corn taffy and substituted corn instead of flour because of the lack of candy powder (sugar). Also, provisions had to be completed by April 13 to 14th, but the production line could not operate due to the lack of electricity, so goods could not ensure within the planned time.

Until the early 1990s, the central party promised flour, sugar, and other materials, but due to the worsening of financial difficulties, it decreed that provinces themselves take care of these goods. After the 65th birthday anniversary of Kim Il Sung in 1977, North Korea provided sweets to pre-school students who are at least five-years old to 11-year old elementary school students as a way of boosting their devotions but under the pretext of “gifts.”

Defector Mr. Kim reflected, “I can remember, after going up one by one to receive gifts, approaching the portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jung Il and bowing. In 1970-1980, the snacks and sweets were at least 10 different kinds, but now, there is only corn snack and one package of candy.”

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Posted in Alcohol, Civil society, Light Industry, Manufacturing, Mass games | 2 Comments »

At Gaeseong, bonds form between Koreans from North and South

Monday, April 16th, 2007

Hankyoreh
Lee Yong-in
4/16/2007

The Gaeseong (Kaesong) Industrial Complex is a gauge of conditions on the Korean peninsula. Operations there were nearly stopped outright in the wake of the North Korean nuclear and missile tests. Yet now, thanks to the February 13 agreement on the North’s denuclearization forged at the six-party talks as well as the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA), operations have picked up at the industrial park.

In particular, the FTA negotiations have brought the industrial complex new interest from around the world. The agreement reached opened up the possibility of products manufactured at Gaeseong being exported to the U.S ., albeit only after the North meets certain conditions. Whether or not Gaeseong goes beyond spurring North-South economic cooperation and becomes a pillar for peace in East Asia remains to be seen.

The Hankyoreh went on location from March 27 to 30 to take a closer look.

GAESEONG INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX – March 29, 6:45 a.m. Before the dawn clears, the rush to work begins. At the intersection that divides the factory buildings, three or four buses stop in front of a sign reading “Gaeseong Industrial Zone” and North Korean workers pour out. There are approximately 80-100 workers on each bus. Shown to the press for the first time since operations began two years ago, the scene resembles the crowded morning commute on Seoul subway line No. 2.

The clothes worn by the female workers are similar to those worn by the women in Pyongyang, as witnessed during a visit last October. Some even wear the long coats now fashionable in the South. Yellow, pink and checkered, the clothes they wear are of all colors and patterns. Wearing makeup and linking elbows as they walked, their smiling faces were as graceful as the flowers of fall. The streets and buildings were sparkling, as well. The chromatic coloring of the complex contrasts clearly with that of the achromatic Guro Digital Complex in the early 1990s in Seoul.

There are more than 1,200 North Korean laborers working in the 22 factories that have so far set up shop at Gaeseong during the complex’s preliminary and first stages. Ninety percent of them commute to work by bus. As the start of operations nears at 7:10 a.m., the workers flood the sidewalks and streets before entering their respective factories. Their paces were hurried and nimble.

“Welcome! I’m glad you’re here!” Four South Korean employees greet the North Korean workers at the gate to Shinwon’s factory. Regardless of rain and snow, they have been there to give their morning greetings to the workers. Among them stands director Hwang U-seung, who recalled “I was most happy when the North Korean workers expressed their gratitude to me for greeting them here every morning.”

As the time of dividing among interested companies the remaining 530,000 pyeong site of the first project draws near (one pyeong is 3.3 square meters), the commute to work promises to become only more complicated. The reason is that after the end of the first stage of development – around the first half of next year – some 7,000 to 10,000 North Korean workers will take up work at the site.

Currently, it is logistically impractical to transport over 10,000 workers every morning by the current 49 buses to meet the start of operations, which is between 7:10 and 8:10 a.m. In particular, in order to meet the 7:10 bell, the women workers must wake up between 4:30 and 5 a.m. so as to make breakfast, walk 20 minutes to the city bus stop, and ride the bus for 20-30 minutes to work.

The Gaeseong Industrial District Management Committee is rushing to find a solution to the commuting problem. There is a plan to build housing within the complex so that 20,000-40,000 workers can commute by foot. Furthermore, if the two Koreas restore the railway line between Seoul and Pyongyang, a project currently being discussed, there is also talk of adding a special commuter train between the workers’ lodgings and Gaesong on the line. In addition, negotiations are underway with the industries present over purchasing more buses or increasing bicycle use.

March 28, 10:00 a.m. The Gaeseong management committee grew hectic. Word came that former Minister of Unification Jeong Dong-yeong’s entourage would arrive in one to two minutes. This reporter jumped into a car so that he would not disturb Minister Jeong’s visit, and drove over to a factory built by the South Korean shoemaker Racere, where he took turns experiencing the work of a typical Gaeseong laborer.

At the factory, seven North Korean workers, their work clothing on and their sleeves rolled up, were gluing the soles of shoes. This reporter also changed into the work clothes and rolled his sleeves up.

After a glance of encouragement from the North Korean laborers, I started to apply glue to the shoes, as well. I was nervous and embarrassed due to my misapplication of the glue. Smiling, the North Korean forewoman Kim Gyeong-sun (45) said, “It looks easy, but it’s really difficult. That’s why newcomers have to be strictly trained.” Kim then taught me in detail the method of holding the brush, the amount of glue to use, and the way of coating the bottoms of the shoes. As if taking on the role of teacher, an animated expression danced across her face.

But after about 30 minutes, the brushes began to harden. Noticing this, a laborer brought me a new brush. “It is a bad brush that is hindering you work,” the North Korean teased, smiling. Asked whether two of the workers had boyfriends, one worker responded, “you think I’d want to marry so soon?” At this, coworkers Jo Jeong-hui and Kim Eun-gyeong, both 19, grinned widely.

As the atmosphere became lighter, Kim Gyeong-sun began bragging about her children. Her 20-year-old eldest son was in the military, and her second son, 18, was studying hard at a mining college, she reported. Aware that their mother was working at Gaeseong, they expressed their support for her “good work.” Asked whether her salary was sufficient to get by, she responded, “More than the money, I feel pride at the fact that North and South are working together.” A model answer, to be sure.

At 12, the lunch bell rang. As she was leaving, a worker offered to make me into “an honorary worker” there, urging me to come back to visit often.

March 28, noon. I joined for lunch the workers of a factory built by South Korean shoe maker Racere. After finishing the meal, I peeked at the North Korean cafeteria. The North Korean workers seem to bring their own rice to supplement the soup provided. When Gaeseong first opened, the North Korean workers were reluctant to visits by the Southerners in their cafeteria during lunchtime. But as the months passed, the atmosphere changed. Now, the South Koreans who sometimes pay a visit to the North Korean cafeteria are now met with warm greetings by the workers.

March 28, 5:00 p.m. The Shinwon workers head home after a day of work. At one corner of the factory, there is a “general meeting” where production totals are compared with goals. The North Koreans are used to performing such checks two to three times a day. The workers change into their regular clothes and sign out using their personal ID cards. As they scan their cards, a picture of them as well as their personal information flashes on the monitor. Those working into the evening gather for a simple supper of ramen and rice in the cafeteria.

At seven in the evening, twilight comes to Gaeseong Industrial Complex, which glows beneath the stars. Nearly all of the factories keep their lights bright, and the streetlamps gently light up the surroundings. Those working into the night that day numbered over 6,000, just about half of the entire Gaeseong workforce.

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Posted in Civil society, Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), Labor conditions/wages | Comments Closed

N. Korea starts mass gymnastic show to mark anniversary of founder’s birthday

Sunday, April 15th, 2007

Yonhap
4/15/2007

North Korea has launched a month-long mass gymnastics show as part of festivities to mark the 95th birthday of its late founding leader Kim Il-sung, the country’s new agency reported Sunday.

The Arirang Mass Games opened at Pyongyang’s May Day Stadium on the evening of Saturday, with hundreds of dancers and gymnasts performing against a gigantic backdrop of mosaic pictures formed by thousands students holding up colored panels, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il did not attend the opening show on the eve of his late father’s birthday, the agency said.

The show was held in 2002 and 2005, but was cancelled last year due to floods, causing hundreds of U.S. and Western tourists to cancel their planned trip to one of the world’s last remaining communist state.

This year’s show, which runs about 80 minutes starting at 8 p.m. every day except for Sunday, is expected to continue until May 20, Western tour organizers said.

This year’s show carries special meaning for North Korea, as it will celebrate the 95th anniversary of the birth of the late leader who died of heart failure in 1994. This year also marks the 62nd anniversary of the Korean Peninsula’s liberation from Japan’s colonial rule and the founding of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party.

The first version of Arirang, named after a famous traditional Korean folk song, was held for nearly five months in 2002, with about 100,000 students and ordinary people participating.

At that time, North Korea staged a promotional campaign for the festival, calling it a “once-in-a-millennium” event. Some viewed it as an effort to gain publicity at the time of the World Cup finals co-hosted by South Korea and Japan the same year.

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Festive Mood in Pyongyang as Kim Il Sung’s Birthday Approaches

Friday, April 13th, 2007

Daily NK
Han Young Jin
4/13/2007
 
There are big three holidays falling in April at the same time: the 95th Kim Il Sung’s birthday (Apr. 15), the 75th foundation anniversary of the People’s Army (Apr. 25) and the 15th anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s ascension to the throne (Apr. 20). According to DailyNK sources, all North Korean cities are busy to preparing for Kim Il Sung’s birthday events, along with Army preparation for a large scale military parade in Pyongyang.

From mid-April to mid-May, the mass-performance “Arirang” will feature 100,000 students participating in the 25th “Spring Friendship Spring Festival” and other memorial events for Kim Il Sung. Other events will include the release of a documentary movie, “Being with the great military-first Leadership”, to commemorate the 14th anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s inauguration as the Chairman of the Defense Committee of North Korea.

Designed to inspire popular nationalism, the April events will occur on an unprecedented scale and will include the participation of the General Federation of Trade Union, the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League, the Union of Agricultural Working People, and the Union of Democratic Women.

The Choson Sinbo of Chongryon (the General Association of North Korean Residents in Japan) is creating a cheerful atmosphere through the release of an article, “the Solar Holiday (Kim Il Sung’s birthday, Apr. 15) in this year is the great fest for the winners.”

North Korean authority intends to take a triumphant stance due to the thaw in U.S. relations, the resumption of six party talks, and perceived diplomatic victories after the nuclear test. The 1998 national slogan, “The Construction of the Strong Prosperity Nation” is believed to have been accomplished this year because of the test.

Previously, military parades were used to emphasize tension between the U.S. and North Korea. However, the upcoming parade is intended to be a victory celebration of a win in confrontation against the U.S. In the past when North Korea has been the beneficiary of positive world opinion, it capitalized by strengthening its domestic surveillance and political education systems. The April events are in furtherance of their strategy to maintain military tension while simultaneously whipping up nationalistic, nuclear pride. 

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